How Fast Did T. Rex Run?

 So: about this book. I was actually looking for Hone???s The Future of Dinosaurs after I heard about it on the Terrible Lizards podcast, which Hone cohosts with Iszi Lawrence. Did not know it had been retitled to How Fast did T. rex Run? for the US release, and so got mixed up and got it much later than I???d like. Still, I did get it (eventually), and after some huffing and wishing that publishers wouldn???t DO that (retitling books I mean), I got stuck in.
(Also I like the UK cover much better. No offense to the designers of the US cover, but I like the dark blue and gold of the UK cover more. Also I like stegosaurus more than T. rex.) 

Fortunately the contents of the book itself are the same as the UK one (by which I mean, it???s all UK spelling), so it???s really just me and my personal sense of aesthetics and my frustration at the retitling thing talking here lol 

Anyway... Well. It???s not BAD, per se. Just not quite as fun as I imagined it???d be, given what I knew of Hone from the podcast. And Hone does a pretty decent job of covering the things we do know about dinosaurs, and the things we don???t actually know about dinosaurs, and where things might go in the future given what the field of paleontology looks like vis-a-vis other developments in science and technology, as well as the overall socio-political-economic trajectory of the world at large (because what happens in the world at large has an enormous effect on what happens in scientific fields, and let???s not pretend it???s not true). 

What I found interesting was that the questions that seem hardest to answer are what I???d call ???kid questions???: the kind of thing a dino-obsessed seven- or eight-year-old might ask. Things like ???What color were dinosaurs???? or ???What was the biggest dinosaur EVER???? And it???s personally amusing to me that a child would put forward questions that would make a paleontologist break out in cold sweats or give them war-flashbacks, but at the same time that makes a whole lot of sense. There???s just SO MUCH STUFF we still don???t know about dinosaurs given the extreme patchiness of the fossil record, plus limitations both inside and outside the field. Paleontologists might have a decent idea of how dinosaurs moved (biomechanics being, apparently, a rapidly-expanding field in paleontology), but things as basic as knowing the colors dinosaurs came in are immensely hard to answer. 

But that being said, Hone notes that there will come a time when even those hard questions will have answers - if not definitive ones, then reasonably logical best guesses. It???s really a matter of locating the right finds; channeling resources to the right places; technology advancing to a point where it can be used to bring up new information; and researchers deciding to spend time and effort on the right things. Hone also points out that things are getting harder because of budget cuts, and that some necessary parts of paleontology are not as glamorous and therefore not getting the time and energy from researchers they deserve (he names anatomy, specifically, as one such field), but that overall, the future has immense potential.  

So: overall, I???d call this a worthwhile read, but I think I stuck with it because I encountered Hone first on the podcast, and was willing to give it a shot. YMMV if this is your first encounter with his work. 

I consider myself an informed layman, paleontology-wise, and a bit of a dinophile. That said, I found this book about what scientists know, what they don't know, and what they will likely never know when it comes to the Dinosauria a very clear and informative one. Plenty of informational nuggets and a number of surprises mixed in made for an enjoyable read. The author explains quite well what goes into paleontology research and why the general public may have unrealistic expectations when it comes to how scientists determine how dinosaurs looked, acted, and generally lived. Recommended for any dinosaur fan.